Traditional forms of personal safety devices have been geared towards the elderly who live independently but who may still need to reach a first responder for assistance in case of an injury or other emergency. Most of these devices and systems involve the use of a telephone, implementing multiple steps to reach a first responder, and being limited to one type of emergency responder such as the city's police department or a single company's own first response team.
Traditional wearable personal safety devices are not discreet, are embarrassing and intrusive, draw unnecessary attention, require multiple steps to use, and are more accessible to potential criminals, tortfeasors, batterers, predators, kidnappers, attackers, or other offenders or threats. In present commercial examples, if a person feels threatened and wants to avoid a situation, the person may touch the traditional wearable personal safety device which may raise suspicion of those near the person. This may attract unwanted attention especially amongst younger and less mature populations. Obvious activation of a personal security device may amplify a potentially threatening situation into a situation where the person is harmed by the potential attacker—the opposite of the purpose of a personal safety system.
Traditional personal safety devices and systems are limited and not customizable. Furthermore, traditional personal safety devices are not intuitive to the qualities and characteristics of the area, nearby people, potential threats, and potential rescue aids. In traditional personal security systems, the same level of emergency response is initiated regardless of the severity of the situation. This deters the person from ever initiating an emergency signal except in circumstances of grave danger. This further makes traditional personal safety devices and systems inefficient and ineffective.
Communities, entities, institutions, groups, and businesses have not been able to effectively, efficiently, and seamlessly implement community-specific emergency notification and response systems. Members within the same community are not in efficient connection with one another to be able to assist a peer in an emergency or troublesome situation. For example, if a person fell down some steps in a stairwell and could not stand up, the person's best option would be to access his/her cellular phone to call a coworker or 9-1-1 in hopes the coworker answers the call and is nearby or that adequate reception is available to reach 9-1-1. Otherwise, the person who fell may end up stranded in the stairwell.
Traditional personal safety systems are limited to the availability of a wireless communication reception. The effectiveness of the emergency response application is limited to the speed, strength, and availability of a wireless signal. Some entities such as universities have placed blue light poles sporadically around campuses. These blue light poles likely have a telephone connected to a landline. However, access is limited and not instantaneous.